bactericidal
"bactericidal" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bactericidal” is uncommon English (frequency #93,423 among 31,241 “B” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #93,423
- frequency rank, English
- 31,241
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - That kills bacteria.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bactericidal · bactericidal · English
bactericidal · rank #93,423 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #93,423
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 31,241
- PHOTO-FINISH backhouse
Nearest frequency peer: backhouse (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “bactericidal”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- azz
azz
6,580 corpus weight
- backhouse
backhouse
6,579 corpus weight
- bactericidal
bactericidal
6,578 corpus weight
- Badajoz
Badajoz
6,577 corpus weight
- Bagby
Bagby
6,576 corpus weight
- Bahl
Bahl
6,574 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “bactericidal” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bactericidal |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #93,423 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bactericidal” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
bactericidal is uncommon English at frequency #93,423 among 31,241 “B” headwords, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
bactericidal doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From bacteri(um) + -cidal. The correct English form is bactericidal, spelled B-A-C-T-E-R-I-C-I-D-A-L.
Definition
- 1That kills bacteria.
- 2Of or pertaining to a bactericide.
Etymology
From bacteri(um) + -cidal.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "bactericidal"?
What does "bactericidal" mean?
What is the origin of the word "bactericidal"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bactericidal", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.